The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday a proposal to reduce emissions from trucks and buses. The proposal combines a reduction in diesel fuel sulfur levels with more stringent rules for diesel engine manufacturers.

The proposal requires that smog-causing emissions be reduced by 95 percent beyond current levels and soot emissions be reduced by 90 percent. The more stringent standards would result in the first broad use of emission control devices, such as three-way catalytic converters and soot traps on heavy-duty engines. The proposal would also require heavy-duty diesel engine manufacturers to begin using computerized pollution control (OBD) systems. According to the EPA, the new rules would add $1,500 to $2,000 to the cost of new heavy-duty diesel trucks phased in between 2007 and 2010.

To meet the more stringent standards, the proposal would require petroleum refiners to cut 97 percent of the amount of sulfur now found in their diesel fuels. "This reduction is absolutely necessary, since sulfur fouls up catalytic converters and other equipment used to remove pollutants from vehicle exhaust," according to Bill Newman, chief operating officer, NADA Public and Legal Affairs. The reduction is expected to raise the cost of diesel fuel by 3 to 4 cents per gallon when the new requirements take effect in June 2006.

"Automobile and truck dealers have made a tremendous investment in the tools, training, and parts necessary to service vehicles with advanced emissions controls and OBD systems," remarked Newman. "A nationwide low sulfur on-road fuel mandate will help motorists and technicians avoid difficult-to-diagnose fuel-related emissions problems and false positive OBD readings."

Both fuel refiners and heavy-truck manufacturers complain that they are being asked to do too much too quickly at too high a cost. Those arguments are likely to intensify over the next month and a half at scheduled public hearings on the proposal. EPA has vowed to finalize the rule by the end of the Clinton administration.

Estate Tax

An NADA-endorsed Death Tax Summit focused on repeal of the estate tax will take place on May 23. The event, which will include a press conference and visits on the Hill, coincides with the House Ways and Means Committee mark-up of legislation to repeal the tax. Full House action is expected in early June, but the Senate is unlikely to take up the stand-alone measure during the remainder of the session

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